Prime minister David Cameron has backed down on plans not to accept unaccompanied refugee children who were already in Europe, after fears of a Tory revolt.
Mr Cameron had previously argued that the plan could create a 'pull factor,' encouraging parents to send lone children on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
Last week MPs turned down an initial proposal by Lord Dubs to take in 3,000 lone refugee children who had made it to Europe by a slim 18-vote majority.
This led to the Lords passing a fresh amendment to the Immigration Bill that would lead to the UK taking in an unspecified number of refugee children ‘determined by the Government in consultation with local authorities’.
Mr Cameron said: ‘I think it is right to stick to the principle that we shouldn’t be encouraging people to make this dangerous journey.’
However, he added: ‘It won’t be necessary to send the Dubs amendment back. The amendment doesn’t mention the number of people. We are going to go round the local authorities to see what we can do.’
Responding to the announcement, chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) refugee task group, Cllr David Simmonds, said the Government still needed to clarify the long-term funding arrangements for councils looking after unaccompanied children and provide detail of how a national dispersal mechanism would operate.
He added: ‘It is vital the scheme announced today is fully aligned and funded alongside this and other existing programmes for resettling refugees, ensuring councils are able to properly support these vulnerable children while continuing to provide vital services for their local community.’
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